Forever
by Beautiful Night Skies
Summary: Hermione's life has been a lie. Harry and Ron really aren't her best friends. She's been friends with Draco Malfoy far longer. (The Chapters are Short)
1. Meeting

bLove Me Forever/b  
  
bAuthor:/b Beautiful Night Skies  
  
bRating:/b PG (It will go up)  
  
bDisclaimer:/b I do not own the characters but I do own the plot. Enjoy!  
  
Gray eyes. Those magnificent gray eyes.  
  
Hermione Granger prided herself on her wonderful memory. She could remember seemingly meaningless things from years ago. But that day... though she was so young... was hardly meaningless.  
  
"Let me help you."  
  
6-year-old Hermione Granger looked up, wiping the tears that were streaming from her face. Above her was a boy about her age. He had platnum blonde hair, and it dangled from his face in a fashionable yet casual way. He was wearing only silver and green, and his metallic shoes caught the sunlight. But those gray eyes.  
  
They were unforgettable.   
  
Hermione gently raised her hand. The little boy grabbed it and heaved her to her feet. Then he bent down and picked up all of the books that had been knocked out of her hands. Hermione wiped her eyes and took them from him. Then she remembered her manners. "Thank-you," she said in barely a whisper. "I'm Draco. What's you're name?" the boy energetically asked her. "Her-hermione." Draco proceeded to turn around. "Is that the boy who pushed you?" her asked her. She quietly nodded, trying to keep the tears from falling at the mere thought of the humiliating incident. Draco walked over to the boy. "What's you're name?" he asked the boy. "Gregory Goyle," the offender answeres. 'Well, Goyle, never be mean to my friend Hermione again!" with a swing of his fist, Draco had Goyle on the ground crying. Hermione rushed up to him. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble!" Hermione never knew why she said 'we' instead of 'you'.   
  
"No we're not!" Draco said. He took her hand and pulled her behind a tree before they were seen.   
  
The two were behind the tree for hours. In that time, they talked to each other to pass the time.  
  
"I'm six!" Draco tole her proudly. "Me, too!" Hermione giggled quietly. "I like to read." Draco looked down at her books. "I don't like to read that much. I like to do magic."  
  
"Magic?" Hermione gasped.  
  
"You don't know about magic?" Draco asked, suprised. Then he realized that this was the perfect opportunity. "Then I'll teach you." He told Hermione all about the magic wand he was going to get when he was eleven. "That's only...5 more years!" he announced, after counting on his fingers. Hermione's mouth was hanging open. Then she smiled. "Can I get a magic wand?" she asked him. He laughed. "Of course you can! Everyone can. How come your mommy and daddy never told you that stuff?" Hermione shrugged. "Maybe because I am a girl." But Draco shook his head. "No, that can't be it."  
  
Of course they were eventually found by one of the teachers, who came out to look for them when they didn't turn up for class. As the angry teacher ranted and raved at the two, they occasionally exchanged glances and tried hard not to laugh.  
  
After the teacher went inside to yell at the parents, Draco went over to Hermione. "How about we play tomorrow?" he asked her brightly. "Ok!" she agreed. Hermione was so relieved to have a new friend. She knew that this friendship would last for quite a long time. 


	2. New Friends

During dinner, Draco Malfoy's short legs swung back and fourth, as they were too small to reach the dark hardwood floor. It was something that had always annoyed him, ever since he'd learned to sit in an actual chair. And he was a fast learner.  
  
"Guess what, mommy?" he said to Narcissa Malfoy, slurping a spaghetti noodle through a rounded mouth.  
  
"What, Draco?" she had a kind, warm, and loving face, and her smile seemed to light up the whole room.  
  
"I made a new friend today."  
  
Her smile seemed to vanish. She looked at Draco in a bit of alarm. Then her smile was replaced by a less warm... more pretend one. "That's wonderful, Draco. Who is he?"  
  
"She. Her name is Hermione. She's six, like me."  
  
"Oh, really?" some of Narcissa's real smile seemed to return. Draco nodded. "Today, when some mean bully knocked her books out of her hand, I picked them up for her." Narcissa was glad that her son was learning to be a gentleman. "Well, that was nice of you."   
  
Suddenly, the door burst open. Lucius Malfoy was in the doorway. His face was a bit redder than usual, and he slammed his magical briefcase down on the table.  
  
"Dammit! After all I did to prevent it!" Draco and Narcissa looked up at him quickly.   
  
"Daddy, do you want to-"  
  
"Not now, Draco, I have a splitting headache."  
  
Narcissa jumped up and began clearing away dishes. She hastily threw them in the sink for the house elf, grabbed Draco by the arm, and began dragging him upstairs. Though he didn't know exactly what was wrong, and he was still hungry, Draco didn't resist. 'There's no telling what he might do in this mood,' Narcissa thought sadly.  
  
After Draco ws in bed, she returned downstairs, finding Lucius scanning an article in the Daily Prophet titled 'Deadly Elf-Pocks Begins to Wipe Out Europe' by some journalist named Rita Skeeter. "Woman doesn't know what she's talking about," he scoffed.  
  
Narcissa sat down next to her husband. Even though he could be a little rough around the edges, she still loved him.  
  
"Lucius? Is there a reason you banged in the room, almost scaring our son out of his wits?"  
  
He looked at her. "I can't believe it! Just proposterous. Aurthur Weasley, the ministry's janitor, just got 'noticed' and given a job in the bewitched artifacts line!"  
  
She looked back at him. "So what's wrong with that? The man has a wife and seven kids. He needs a job to support his family!"  
  
Lucius was still angry. "So? He is a disgrace to wizardry! A complete muggle lover. He needs to go back to the dump where he belongs!"  
  
Narcissa sighed. "Oh, Lucius, it's not that bad. I have some more news. Draco made himself a friend at school today. A little girl named Hermione."  
  
"A-a friend? A GIRL friend? Wonderful! Just wonderful! I bet she's a muggle too! She's probably going to get our little boy accustomed to her muggle tendencies, and then they're going to elope and ruin everything we've taught him."  
  
"Lucius! Draco is six years old! He's not about to elope! We should be happy that he at least made a friend. He'll make more when he goes off to wizarding school, and this Hermione will only be a memory."  
  
How wrong they were. 


	3. Best Friends

Draco and Hermione stayed friends over the years. His parents were ok with it because they were sure that the friendship would never last. Her parents were ok with it because they had always wanted their daughter to have a very best friend, no matter who that might be.  
  
Hermione remembered that day, the day when she recieved 'The Letter'.   
  
Her mother walked in with a hand full of groceries and the mail in her other hand. "Look what came in the mail today!" she said to an eleven-year-old Hermione. Hermione took the letter, opened it, and began to read it. In it was just what Draco had been telling her about all these years- proof of a magic school.  
  
"Oh, my Gosh!" she shrieked. "Mother! I- I got into a magic school!" Her mother set down the groceries in concern. "Did you say..."  
  
"Yes, mother! Read it!" Mrs. Granger took the paper from Hermione and read it.  
  
"Dear Miss Granger, We are pleased to inform you that you haver been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" her mother had heard ledgends of that place for. When she was a child, her best friend had gone away to a similar school. She never saw her again. So she hugged Hermione in congrats. "Wonderful, sweetheart! Next week we'll hop down to this Diagon Alley spot and pick up your things."  
  
Suddenly, the door opened. Draco walked in and waved to Mrs. Granger. She waved back. "You want a soda, Draco?" she asked him pleasently. He shook his head. "I have to talk to Hermione." Hermione noticed that he didn't look very happy.  
  
They headed up stairs to her room. He shut the door, and sat down on her desk chair. "Hermione, I have some bad news." She showed him the letter. "Is it about this?" his eyes suddenly lit up. "Yes! You got one too? This is great!" he jumped up and hugged her. Then they both realized what they were doing, and sat back down, faces a little red. "But there's something else. My father doesn't want us to be friends anymore."   
  
Hermione sat down on her bed. She threw up her hands in anger and sadness. "So... that's it? Boom! We aren't friends anymore?" He shook his head quickly. "Oh, no! We will still be friends! We just can't let anyone else know. When i get to school, I have to pretend that I only like snobby rich families, no muggle-borns." They were both old enough to know the vocabulary of magic folk.   
  
Hermione still felt sad. "Then how can we be friends?" His misty gray eyes matched her soft brown ones. "We can 'accidentally' meet in the library and stuff. No one will know. Meanwhile we can make other friends, and... well... we'll have to pretend... to hate each other." eShe looked at him sadly. "I see. I'll try. i could never hate you, Draco. But I'll try."  
  
They looked at each other for one last time, and as he left her room, Hermione, being only 11, lay down on her bed and cried. 


	4. Still Friends?

Draco felt awful; like he'd just been stabbed in the heart. He and Hermione had been best friends since they were barely six! Almost six years! For him to go and do that to her, well, he felt like the scummyest thing on the planet.  
  
He walked in the door sadly. His mother was sitting at the table tiredly. But, even though he had arrived almost halfway through dinner, his father beamed at him.  
  
"Did you break it off with that muggle girl?" Lucius asked jubiously. Draco nodded sadly. "She's no muggle. Saw her Hogwarts letter myself." Lucius smiled anyway. "Mudblood, then. Narcissa, would you pass the salad?"  
  
Wincing at the vile word, Draco looked at his mother. She looked frial, even old. There were dark circles under her eyes that even magic couldn't take care of, and her nose looked bonier and pointer than ever. 'Why does she let Lusius push her around?' Draco often wondered. Suddenly, it was all his father's fault. His mother's health, his lost friendship with Hermione, WHY did his father have to chose his life for him?  
  
"No, Lucius. She isn't a mudblood. She's MY friend, not yours. I'm going straight back there to her house to patch things up!" Draco quickly got up, as did Lucius. "No you are not, young man. You sit down right now and finish your dinner!"   
  
"No!" Draco's assertiveness suprised him. Though he was the most feared boy on the playground, and he beat up any kid who made a crack at Hermione, he had always been a bit more afraid of his father than the next larger kid.  
  
"Sit down now!" Lucius' annoyance with Draco was quickly (as usual) turning to rage. There were red patches traveling up his neck, his eyes were begining to bulge, and he looked ready to breathe fire.  
  
"Never!" Draco practically screamed. Lucius leapt up to catch Draco. In utter fear, Draco grabbed the glass salad bowl and flung it at his father. He missed, and the family cringed as it crashed against the wall. Lucius looked about to expload. So Draco took off.   
  
He leapt out the door, leaving it open. Lucius was not going to give up; had he ever? so he chased Draco outside. Draco could hear his mother yelling at them to come back inside as he swished through the long grass in his huge back yard. "Come back hear, boy!" Lucius yelled. Suddenly, he was pushed to the ground as Lucius jumped up on him. The impact knocked Draco's head hard on the ground, and all he could think of was Hermione as the world began to spin, and then everything turned black.  
  
**********************************  
  
"Wake up!" somebody hissed. Draco opened his eyes, though it hurt like hell. As blurryness began to turn into actual things, he recognized Narcissa standing over him with a wash cloth in her hands. "What is it?" he asked, a bit loud. "Shhhhhh! Your father's sleeping."   
  
Pound, Pound, Pound! His head throbbed and he felt nauseous. "You tried to get away from him, and he tackled you. I pulled him off... before catastrophies could have occured." Draco wondered if his father could have killed him. Then he wondered how a woman of his mother's size and strength could have pried her large husband off of her son. Some things are just meant to be wondered about.  
  
"Anyway, he told me that if you don't willingly go with him to Diagon Alley to pick up your things, WITHOUT Hermione, then he might... well... let's just say your father is capable of a lot when he is angry."  
  
Draco nodded with resentment. The last thing he wanted to do was spend a day with his no-good-father. But he did anyway, because he couldn't imagine anything worse than being married to the fool. And Narcissa had never given up.  
  
~  
  
How'd you like this chapter? Well, for those of you who want to be reminded for updates, go to http://www.expage.com/beautifulnightskies and subscribe at the form thingy. I just cannot read every forward and then view your name AND THEN get your email. It is much easier if you sign up. So thank you. I'm glad so many of you love my fic!  
  
.:Beautiful Night Skies:. 


	5. Lucius Interferes

"You look wonderful, Drakkie!"  
  
Draco wanted to rush to his room and lock the door fifty times. He had just gotten back from hell... er, Diagon Alley with his father. First, his father dropped by a pub at Knockturn Alley, one of Draco's least-favourite places, mind you, to get some booze. Maybe it was better that way; Draco could probably escape a beating if his father was drunk. Next They shopped for a wand. Draco's was long and black, about 11' and sleek. It contained a dragon's heartstring. The wand was instantly one of Draco's most favored possessions.  
  
Then, his father dropped him off at the robe store, while Lucius went off for more supplies. Draco didn't much like the robes, but he (a bit embarassedly) kind of liked the way he looked in the black garments.  
  
As he was admiring himself, who was to walk in the shoppe but Harry Potter himself!  
  
Draco recognized him right away. You'd have to be brain dead not to. Harry Potter looked a little scared, so Draco thought he might ease some of his tension by starting a conversation with him.  
  
Draco talked about his parents and hoping to be accepted to Slytherin. The more he said to Potter, the more distaste filled Potter's long face. 'What did I say?' Draco wondered. He soon left the place, bewildered at how hard it was to make friends with magic celebrities. 'What a jerk,' Draco thought to himself. 'Hero my ass.'  
  
By the time Lucius and Draco got home, Lucius was so completely drunk that he could hardly stand. Narcissa sat him down on the sofa with some black coffee, which he didn't even have time to take a sip of before he passed out. "Show me how you look in your robes!" she demanded, smiling. So Draco did.  
  
Of course, she ranted on how stunningly handsome he looked. "You have to say that, you 're my mother," he told her. She just laughed. "If you want to see Miss Granger today, I suggest you leave while your father's dead to the world. I'll cover for you if he wakes up." Draco kissed his mother's cheek, once again admiring her bravery.  
  
"Good afternoon, Mister Malfoy," Mrs. Granger greeted Draco cheerfully as he entered the Granger household. "Would you like a cookie?" Draco accepted, and took a bite of the gooey chocolate chip treat. "Mmm, these are tasty!" he complimented her. She giggled. "Well, that's good. You're my first tester. You don't have to be magic to be good in the kitchen."  
  
Draco nodded. "Where's Hermione?" he wondered aloud. "She's in her bedroom, trying on her robes. I must say you do look mysterious in that robe." He grinned, and walked up to Hermione's room.  
  
Draco rapped lightly on the door. He didn't want to walk in on Hermione or anything. "Come in," he heard her voice say. He slowly entered the room.  
  
"Mom I-" Hermione began, spinning around. She stopped as she say Draco looking at her. "Oh, hello, Draco," she said, a little embarassed. "That robe looks... nice on you, Hermione," Draco told her quietly. "Same to you," she replied. They just stood there, taking a good look at each other.  
  
*********************  
  
Draco had impatiently awaited the day he could leave his overbearing father for a whole year. "Draco, I have cut a deal with many of the staff members and students who will see to it that you and Hermione don't spend a second together the entire time you're at school. Is that perfectly understood?"  
  
Draco's face fell. His world came crashing down on him so suddenly it made his head spin. He could do nothing but nod dazedly at his father.  
  
"Your mother, however, would not hear of you leaving Hermione without so much as a private farewell. So go on. And don't try anything."  
  
Draco was grateful. He ran over to Hermione. "'Mione, there isn't much time. My father has seen to it that we won't be friends during school." Hermione looked at him. He could see tears in her eyes, shooting away her formerly smiling face. "What?"  
  
"But," Draco continued, "I would never allow that. We will put up an act. We can meet in the library and on the grounds and whatnot. That is, if you're willing to go out of your way to keep this... relationship going." Both were suprised by Draco's choice of words. "Of course I am, Draco," she said, touching his arm with her pixiesh fingers. "You're the best friend I ever had." Draco reached over and hugged her. "I will miss you, Hermione."  
  
"I'll miss you too, Draco."  
  
They boarded the train seperately. 


	6. Red is an Ugly Colour

Hermione walked in the front part of the train cautiously. Who would be her friend now? Though she knew no one would ever take the place of Draco Malfoy as her best friend, she had to find someone to hang out with for the next year. Or few years. Hermione was not sure.  
  
Suddenly a distasteful-looking boy raced up to her. "Excuse me," he siad in a worried voice, "But have you seen my toad? His name is Trevor." Hermione tried not to look too disgusted. "No, I haven't seen any toads on this part of the train," she said as calmly as she could. Hermione had never liked toads. They were just too slimy. She was never a huge fan of amphibians.  
  
"Well, I'll help you find him, I suppose," she told him, sighing. 'Might as well find the damn thing before if finds me,' she thought.  
  
The boy introduced himself as Neville Longbottom. He was a bland fellow; not to much about him would interest a person. He told her about his house, and that he lived with his grandmother, whom he referred to as 'Gran'.  
  
"Mmmhmm," Hermione occasionally replied, hoping he wouldn't notice that she had no idea what he was talking about.  
  
Neville took the front of the train, and Hermione searched the back. In the process, she met a few nice people; Parvati and Padma Patil, twin girls who couldn't be more different. Padma was hugely into sports, muggle and magic, and Parvati was into make-up and pretty dresses. Lavender Brown was Parvati's best friend, and she seemed to be quite popular already.  
  
Hermione was almost at the middle of the train when she spotted two nervous-looking boys in a compartment with a hecka-load of sweets all over their laps. At the first glance, she could tell that one of them was Harry Potter. After all, the nights she hadn't spent with Draco were spent reading book upon book, explaining witchcraft as indepth as possible to the eager young girl.  
  
"Good afternoon," she greeted cheerfully. Hermione was a little shy because she never had many friends, and when she felt shy, instead of hiding behind her hair or nervously playing with the hem of her robe, she talked. Talked and talked and talked. She could see the astounded look on the red-haird boy's face when she finished introducing herself.  
  
"Harry Potter," Harry Potter greeted her in return, stretching out his hand to shake hers. The other boy seemed to have forgotton his manners. "Ron Weasley," he told her, spraying chocolate frogs all over her face. She gave him a disgusted look, which he shot right back at her.  
  
The two boys had been in the midst of discussing the colour of Ron's rat when Hermione had rushed in their compartment. "My brother Fred gave me a spell that is to turn him yellow," Ron said, whisking out his wand.  
  
"Oh, you're doing magic?" Hermione said excitedly. It was against the rules of the school to practice spells and charms and whatnot outside the school, so she had not seen real magic up until not. "Let's see then."  
  
Ron cleared his throat importantly. "Sunshine daisies, butter mellow. Turn this stupid fat rat yellow!"  
  
A few dud sparks trickled from his wand, scaring the still-gray rat, who ran over to hide under Harry. "I reckon it's a little different," Harry said weakly, picking it up.  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Are you sure that's a spell? Well, it's not a very good one is it," she reprimanded Ron. He rolled his eyes obviously at Harry, who, trying to avoid conflict, stuffed some Cauldron Cakes in his mouth.  
  
***************  
  
Draco stepped onto the train glumly. How was he going to survive a year without Hermione? He was sure his gray eyes had lost... whatever made them interesting. What was interesting about gray anyway? He'd always wondered that whenever someone complimented him on his eyes.  
  
As he sat down, a boisterous girl decked out in fake fur and designer clothes plopped down beside him. Draco tried very hard to ignore the obvious winks and grins she was giving him.  
  
He was almost grateful when his father's friend's sons, whom he learned to call Crabbe and Goyle, somehow manuvered their large bodies through the compartment doors and onto the red leather seats. Draco sighed with relief as the disgruntled girl, Pansy Parkinson, got up and found someone else to bother, erm, sit with.  
  
Draco looked up at Crabbe and Goyle. What could he say that would get through to these thick idiots? They sat for a while, and Draco bought himself and the hungry-looking boys some candy. He leaned back in his self. "You know," he began, "Red is my least-favourite colour."  
  
***************  
  
Hope you liked this chapter! I know I was gone for a long time. I got in trouble and was grounded for a long time. But now I'm back, hooray! And for those of you who are complaining, 'Your chapter's are too short!', well, live with it. That's how I operate. I write lots of little mini-chappies. And to those of you who are demanding more, Hats off to you! You guys are what keeps me writing!  
  
~BNS 


	7. Seperated

Hermione was ushered out of the train hurridely. She had meant to go and look for Draco, to say goodbye one last time before they were Sorted, but a burly giant-man patted her on the back and lead her to a magnificent boat along with Harry, Ron and, just her luck, Neville Longbottom.  
  
Hermione stared in awe at the great castle which was gettng closer and closer. The boats seemed to glide across the crystal-clear lake. After a suprisingly-short ride, the first-years, nervously of course, walked up to the sparkling castle in a long line.  
  
Draco looked around for Hermione as he got off the boat. The sights were nothing special to him; he had been taken to far too many exotic places to be awed by a simple lake. His attempts to find Hermione were in vain, so he hung back with the two slobbering idiots who were to be his close friends. As if.  
  
As they walked inside, Hermione couldn't help but gasp. Never in her life had she seen anything so amazing as the inside of the school. Nearly every inch of it was covered with a beautiful piece of artwork, each picture telling a story of it's own.  
  
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" she heard Harry ask Ron. She then heard Ron tell him that his brother said they may have to take a test to be fully accepted. A test!  
  
Hermione began mumbling different spells and incantations she had learned during the little time she'd had to study. She barely noticed that people were begining to walk steadily away from her, except Neville, who was begging for a glimpse of some kind, and kind of magic which could help him pass the tests.  
  
It didn't help her concentration whatsoever as packs of ghosts began pouring into the room through the walls. "The repairing spell is 'repairo'." She murmured, trying to think through all the commotion.  
  
Suddenly, a hush came over the crowd. Hermione looked up to see what was the matter. In the middle of the room was a giant-  
  
"Hat?" Hermione said, questioningly.  
  
The hat was old and tattered. It had rips and tears and patches all over. Hermione wondered how long the Professor McGonagall had kept the hat. To everyone's suprise, it began to speak.  
  
It told of four houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Raveclaw, and Slytherin; each of which Hermione had read about in 'Hogwarts, a History'. Then it said that all you had to do was place it on your head, and it would tell you what house you were in! Hermione wasn't the only one who breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll kill Fred," she heard Ron say to Harry, "He was going on about wrestling a troll."  
  
***********  
  
Draco watched as Hermione, and the jackass Harry Potter, were both placed in Gryffindor. 'Gryffindor, please! I'll do anything,' he said, or rather thought to the hat. But practically the second it was placed on his head, the danm thing screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"  
  
'Damn!' Draco thought bitterly. 'All because of my stupid father and the Malfoy family line. Or maybe it's because of my gray eyes.' He sadly took a seat at the Slytherin table, soon to be joined by Pansy, the little snot. 


	8. Draco's Note

In the beginning, Hermione loathed school. She found herself caught in the Gryffindor common room, completely alone, many nights in a row. On the nights where someone was kind enough to join her for a cup of tea or a game of wizards chess, it was most commonly Neville Longbottom, and Hermione would have preferred being alone over spending more time with him. Well, almost.  
  
Draco found himself as the ring leader of the 'in crowd'. He always had one or more good-looking girls hanging all over him, and they weren't always in the first year. Draco had what basically any guy, or girl, for that matter, could ever dream of.  
  
And to think he loathed school more than Hermione.  
  
"Well, the goddamn grass is always greener on the other side," he said to himself bitterly while he was hiding out in the bathroom one day. It was the only place he could be alone. Pansy Parkinson would have happily followed him in, except for the fact that half the Slytherin boys would have put a heavy curse on her if she even tried.  
  
Draco left the bathroom, and was utterly suprised to find that Pansy was off with some other Slytherin girl, boasting about her snakeskin pants or whatever. Draco honestly didn't care. He began to tiptoe out of the Slytherin common room, and amazingly, he made it all he way to the library without being stalked. ANd sure enough, as he quickly scanned the room...  
  
Hermione was reading in the corner.  
  
Draco wanted to go over to her. But suddenly he realized, 'What will I say to her?'. It had been a couple of weeks since they had even spoken. Draco was astounded to find that he was actually getting nervous about speaking to his best childhood friend in the would.  
  
Draco whipped out a beautiful quill, one that he had inherited from some uncle or something, and scribbled a note to Hermione.   
  
Meet me near Greenhouse 2 at 8:00 tonite. -Draco  
  
He walked over to her table and set it down lightly. Then he smiled at her as best he could. She was just about to smile back, when they were interrupted.  
  
"Drakie! Sooooo glad I found you! Now, don't you think this handbag is absolutely supreme? Oh..." she said, as she looked down and realized that a Sltherin had been conversing with a Gryffindor without drawing a wand first. "Why are you talking to HER?" Pansy asked with obvious disgust. Hermione looked up at the two.  
  
Draco was torn. He looked at Pansy, then back at Hermione. "Oh, I was just complimenting Hermione on her hair. Looks pretty good for having it styled by your grandma!" he said rudely, smirking at Pansy. She slipped her arm in his, and lead her out to the Great Hall for the lunch buffet.  
  
********  
  
Hermione woke up one saturday morning, with no motivation to do anything. She wanted to sleep the rest of the day, and not have any responsibilities. "Thank heavens for my odd ability to not procrastinate," Hermione said to herself, laying her head back down on her pillow.  
  
But she didn't get a very long time to rest. Hermione felt herself being shaken awake. She groggily opened her eyes. "Parvati? How come you woke me up?"  
  
Parvati sighed. "I thought maybe you'd want to start making up excuses, 'cause Neville's downstairs and wants to know if you'd like to play some sort of muggle board game with him. It think it's called Scrabble..."  
  
Hermione leapt out of bed. "Damn! Tell him... tell him I have to study all day. I'll be in the library. But DON'T-" she waved her arm, "DON'T tell him that!"  
  
Hermione sneaked to the library while Parvati and Lavender created some sort of diversion for her. She reminded herself to thank them later.  
  
When she reached the library, Hermione grabbed a couple of interesting-looking books off random shelves and began to read. "A fine way to spend a Saturday," she thought angrily, trying to get into 'The Lives of Trolls'.  
  
After a while, something made Hermione look up. Over in the corner opposite of her was Draco!  
  
"What's he doing here?" she whispered out loud. She wondered where Draco's little 'possee' was.  
  
Actually, Hermione had been feeling depressed about Draco's instant popularity. She often lay awake at nights, wondering if he even remembered her. She felt that he didn't... need her anymore.  
  
Hermione didn't let on that she was watching Draco's every move from behin the large, leather-bound book. She saw him write something down on a strip of paper, and tried not to look up as he set it gently down on her table. SHe tried not to let her face go red as he flashed an award-winning smile at her.  
  
Just as she was about to read the note, Pansy Parkinson, the bitch, came up to Draco and started bragging, as usual. Then she asked Draco why he was talking to Hermione.  
  
And Draco had made a really mean comment about Hermione's hair. And walked arm in arm out the door with that BITCH.  
  
It wasn't even the actual comment that got Hermoine down. It was the fact that he publically humiliated his once-best-friend. Even if it was onl in front of some stupid girl.  
  
Hermione tried hard not to let the hot tears run down her face. Angrily, she crumpled the note up and threw it in her bag. "I don't care what that horse's ass wants to say to me!" she said. Suddenly, Hermione just broke down and cried. She felt like her heart was breaking.  
  
"I'm nobody."  
  
********  
  
Pretty sad, huh? One of my longer chapters. Thank you for all of the nice comments you all are giving me! And I just want you (this is to specific people, it doesn't apply to all) to realize that I have a life other than on the computer. I just wanted to thank NitenGale for apologizing, because I was about to get angry.  
  
Reviewer of the day is... LittleWhiskyGirl! ;)  
  
Love, Beautiful Night Skies! 


	9. Remorse

Draco was forced to escort Pansy around for a long time before she found some of her friends and he could escape with some excuse. After he left, he went to the empty Slytherin common room and sat in the giant green chair. "What did I do?" He asked himself, putting his face in his hands. He'd seen Hermione's hurt expression after he walked away with Pansy. As he remembered the way Hermione ripped up the note, he felt like she had ripped up his heart.  
  
Draco wanted more than anything to go find Hermione in her common room, where she was bound to be, but he knew he couldn't. Draco vaguely wondered if his father had actually sunk to the level of finding Gryffindor 'watchdogs'. "I HATE LUCIUS!" Draco roared, grabbing a shiny silver vase and smashing it against the wall. It shattered and then reassembled itself. Draco had quite a time throwing meaningless pieces of artwork around, knowing they would fix themselves right up so he couldn't get busted.  
  
***  
  
Hermione sat down on her four-poster bed. How could life be so unfair? It killed her to remember all the times she'd had the time of her life with Draco. "People change," she reminded herself bitterly, laying down on her bed. She closed her eyes. "Maybe I'll just have a little rest."  
  
Next thing Hermione knew, Parvati was shaking her awake. Again. "Hermione, are you ok?" Parvati asked her with concern.  
  
Hermione nodded. She looked at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room and realized it was dinner time. "You go on to dinner without me," she ordered Parvati. Parvati nodded back. "But if you need to talk to anyone, I'm there," she told Hermione. Hermione waved her off kindly.  
  
After finding herself alone, Hermione's attention immediately went to her bag, which still contained Draco's note. Or what was left of it.  
  
"I wonder what what Draco wrote," she wondered. She sat and stared at the bag for a while, until she couldn't take it any more. "I HAVE to know what he wrote!" she exclaimed. She uttered a spell which reassembeled the ripped note, and, with shaking hands, she read what it said.  
  
After she read it, Hermione was relieved to find that it didn't insult her in any way, but a bit confused. Why did Draco want to meet her tonight? Her mind thought the worst.  
  
'Maybe he's bringing friends so they can all pick on me!' she thought, trembling. That didn't sound like Draco at all, though. Even if he had changed.  
  
The note said to meet him at eight o'clock. Hermione had never broken the rules, such as being outside of the castle at night. But she was willing to do it for Draco. Hermione didn't know why, but she had been left with a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, Draco still liked her and wanted to be her friend.  
  
Hermione sneaked downstairs, and hid under a very large table in the common room, until the other Gryffindors were up in their rooms. Hermione got lucky; usually not every Gryffindor went upstairs until around nine or ten, but today there had been a quidditch game and everyone was tired. Except Hermione of course, who had slept throught most of the day.  
  
She made it outside, and found her way to the green houses. She saw Draco, and made sure that he was alone. When she say his face which was more pale than usual, she decided to walk over to him.  
  
"Hi, Hermione," he said weakly. She looked at him, sure her own eyes were on fire. "Well, Draco, do you have anything to say?"  
  
He nodded. "Hermione... I'm.... sorry. Really I am. I wanted to talk to you, but when Pansy came over to me, I remembered that her father is good friends with Lucius. I had to act like I hated you so she wouldn't get suspicious and get the both of us in deep trouble. I'm so sorry."  
  
Hermione looked at him. She knew what a smooth-talker Draco could be; she'd witnessed him getting himself out of trouble zillions of times back before Hogwarts. But Hermione was very intuitive, and she saw real remorse in his eyes.  
  
"Does this mean I can say things back to you?" she asked him slyly. He grinned. "Sure!" She laughed at his eagerness. "Ok, then, I guess I forgive you."  
  
********  
  
Ok, I know I didn't get this one out for a while, but I've been busy. It's Spring Break this week! I'm getting pretty tired of the first year; they're too young. So there's only going to be a couple more chapters until they're like 15 or something. I 3 getting your reviews!  
  
~Beautiful Night Skies 


	10. Lucky Number Three

The rest of the first year went pretty smoothly. Hermione's mother had been in drama school a lot as a young girl, and Hermione had picked up on some acting skills as a young girl. She needed them, too, so she could look angry at Draco when she saw him strutting around the hallways with Pansy, and so she could keep herself from laughing at the agitated looks on Harry and Ron's faces as Draco endlessly tormented them.  
Draco didn't have a bad first year, either. He realized that girls as old as fourth years secretly lusted after the mature eleven year old boy. He found this amusing; especially when he was mad at Pansy. He could continuously flirt with any girl he wanted, and Pansy would take him back no matter what. "Quite pathetic, really," he commented to Hermione, sighing. "If she weren't so attractive, I'd drop her like a hat." This earned a playful punch from Hermione.  
As exams came around, both students knew they'd do well. They'd been honors students as young children; and with Hermione being the perfectionist that she was, and Draco having a photographic memory and the cleverness that came with all Malfoys, they both knew they had it made. It became somewhat of a competition for them.  
They were studying in the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest one night, when Draco suddenly turned to Hermione. "Man, I know this stuff like I know the sky is blue," he said to her, "I betcha I get top score."  
Hermione had always been annoyed by shameless bragging. From other people. "No way! I've been studying so much longer than you. I'll definately score highest."  
Draco looked at her smugly. "Fine. It's a bet. Winner gets a box of Chocolate Frogs."  
"You're on," she replied, her brown eyes staring at his gray ones evenly.  
From then on, they studied madly. Harry and Ron even begun to worry about Hermione, and Pansy complained to Draco. "Come on, there's plenty of time to study later, Drakkie." Draco was motivated even more by that, knowing if he spent more time with her, she'd continue to call him that dreadful pet name.  
Finally, the day of the exams arrived. They both checked, re-checked, and re-re-checked each question. When they finally got their scores back.  
"I scored three higher than you!" Hermione said proudly. "Just wait until next year," Draco said good-naturedly. She laughed, stuffing a Chocolate Frog in her mouth. "Three has always been my lucky number!" 


End file.
